Chapter 58: The Blood Path (3)

Gu Yuan’s gamble had paid off. Zhou Yucheng had ultimately decided to let him go, choosing to deal with his own matters instead of wasting time fighting Gu Yuan.

Gu Yuan sighed and decided to stop caring about those spies. Whatever happened between them was none of his business anymore. He would just concentrate on his own mission... killing demonic beasts.

Using the insights he had gained from watching the earlier battle, Gu Yuan began killing the demonic beasts.

He repeatedly used the first two moves of the Heaven Rend Technique, and he could clearly feel his mastery over them improving. If he had to put a number to it, the power of each move had increased by nearly twenty percent.

Gu Yuan soon seemed to forget about the earlier incident as he joyfully fought the demonic beasts.

Just like that, without encountering anyone else, time passed. Before he knew it, the promised date had arrived, and Gu Yuan made his way back to the entrance of the Demonic Beast Garden.

There, he found Zhou Yucheng and Su Leishan.

Naturally, Gu Yuan greeted them politely, just as he had the first time he saw them... and like that time, neither of them responded.

Zhou Yucheng was completely unscathed, while Su Leishan was clearly injured. Judging from the injuries, Gu Yuan suspected they had come from Zhou Yucheng rather than the demonic beasts.

At least he got to keep his life... Gu Yuan thought.

Zhou Yucheng gave him a sharp look, but Gu Yuan simply ignored it.

Before long, the proud Ye Chen also arrived. He seemed to have suffered some injuries, but he was laughing to himself, clearly pleased with the harvest he had obtained.

Zhou Yucheng glanced at the four of them and said, "Okay, now that everyone is here, let’s go back."

"What about Qin Bofeng?" Ye Chen asked.

"He died."

Zhou Yucheng gave no further explanation. Instead, he took out a token that Gu Yuan had never seen before and activated it.

Some changes seemed to happen to the Teleportation Array in front of them, and they were able to go back to the Inner Sect.

Waiting for them there was an elder. When he saw Zhou Yucheng appear, the elder seemed to relax slightly and gave him a small nod before turning around and leaving.

Was he here in case something happened to Zhou Yucheng?

Gu Yuan wondered about it for a moment, but he didn’t think too deeply into it. Instead, he made his way to the Mission Hall.

After reporting everything that had happened during the mission, Gu Yuan and the others received their mission rewards.

Each of them was given five Middle-Grade Spirit Stones, which wasn’t much and was more symbolic than anything else. After all, the real reward for this mission was that they were allowed to keep the carcasses of the demonic beasts they had killed.

Once everything was settled, Gu Yuan finally returned to his cave abode.

It had been such a tiring mission.

Sitting cross-legged in the quiet comfort of his residence, he found his thoughts drifting... not toward the demonic beasts he had hunted, which had actually been rather satisfying, but toward the two spies and Zhou Yucheng.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t come across any of them again.

Gu Yuan turned his attention toward his storage treasures and reached into his storage bracelet. From it, he took out a saber.

It was a heavy black saber with a dark metallic blade and an unusually plain appearance.

There were no elaborate patterns or decorations on its surface, only faint lines that seemed to naturally form across the dark blade.

Despite its simple appearance, the saber carried a restrained and powerful aura, one that clearly showed that it was no ordinary weapon.

It was a Middle-Heaven Grade saber.

Gu Yuan had not bothered refining it before because he knew it would take quite some time, and he had obtained many things from the twins. Compared to everything else, this saber had been placed lower on his list of priorities.

But after what happened in the Demonic Beast Garden, Gu Yuan no longer felt like delaying it.

And so, he immediately began refining the saber, intending to make it recognize him as its owner.

It was by no means easy.

His spiritual power entered the saber and immediately collided with the restrictions inside it. The feeling was almost like smashing against solid rocks. No matter how much spiritual power he poured into them, the restrictions barely moved.

Gu Yuan could only slowly chip away at them, little by little.

Pouring spiritual power in such a continuous, exhausting manner would have been nearly impossible for most cultivators. But, with the Orb of Creation constantly replenishing his Qi, maintaining a constant flow of spiritual power was more than possible.

Time passed in this quiet struggle. It was only a year later that the Heavenfall Saber was finally completely refined.

Gu Yuan gave it a light swing. Feeling the dense power contained within the blade, he could not help but wonder when he himself would be capable of forging a weapon of this caliber.

After putting the Heavenfall Saber away, Gu Yuan spent an entire month resting to recover his mental strength. Refining the saber had been far more mentally exhausting than he had expected.

Once he had fully recovered, he turned to the next item.

From the storage bracelet he took out a crystal slip.

It contained a High-Heaven Grade saber technique: Blood Moon Severing Saber.

It was the strongest technique among everything he had obtained from the twins.

However, Gu Yuan had always been somewhat wary of it.

The word "blood" alone had made him hesitate, and the technique itself was also far too difficult. In the end, despite having it for so long, he had never actually learned it.

But now, Gu Yuan had changed his mind.

If Zhou Yucheng could use a blood-related cultivation technique and still maintain his sanity, then why would a saber technique have any effect on him?

With that thought, Gu Yuan no longer hesitated.

He probed the crystal slip with his spiritual sense, and a flood of information poured into his mind.

Blood Moon Severing Saber was a fierce and domineering saber art. Each slash carried a faint blood-colored moon phantom that eroded the opponent’s vitality.

Unlike the Heaven Rend Technique, which had five moves, the Blood Moon Severing Saber contained only three.

First Move: Blood Moon.

Second Move: Moon’s Descent.

Third Move: Blood Moon Severance.

Even the weakest of the three was already more powerful than the moves of the Heaven Rend Technique that Gu Yuan currently knew.